Nike Ad Shows A Woman's Underarm Hair And Some People Just Can't Handle It

Nike dared post a photo showing a woman with underarm hair, and the internet is losing it

Hey, dear readers, did you know? All women have body hair. Yes, all of them. It shows up all over our bodies, from our arms and legs to our chins and upper lips to our breasts to our underarms. And that fact has caused some serious grief in the comment section of a photo Nike posted to Instagram today.

The photo, an ad for some of the brand’s sportswear, features Nigerian-American singer Annahstasia, looking fierce as all hell while she’s modeling a Nike sports bra. Against a white background, she stands in a serious power pose, with one arm draped over her head. And under that arm? Some of her completely natural body hair, just like all women (and men) have.

I’m sure you can see where this is going. Women face a lot of pressure to meet the beauty standards our society upholds, one of which is shaving almost all of that totally natural body hair. Many women shave under their arms because of this, and as you’re all aware, it’s unusual to see a woman with visible underarm hair modeling in a national brand’s social media campaign.

That doesn’t make that body hair any less normal or acceptable, but this is the internet, where people act like toddlers. Commenters started throwing actual tantrums about this, criticizing both Nike and Annahstasia for daring to show a woman’s body without unnecessary modifications.

Naturally, there were the people who find this, again, completely natural hair to be too icky for their sensitive eyes.

Then there are the people who, you know, believe in feminism, but only as long as women keep their gross armpits out of public view.

For some reason there were women piling on with their opinions that women should continue to put money and hours of their lives into pretending to be perfect, hairless beings.

Some people had the misguided idea that body hair is dirty, when in reality, hair is in the places it’s in to help protect sensitive parts of the body from bacteria, and thus is actually more hygienic than a clean shave.

And of course, a guy who thinks women exist for the sole purpose of attracting men showed up to tell us all that armpit hair is scaring away all the viable mates.

Shoot, you mean underarm hair scares away shallow assholes who think women are constantly trying to find a man? Darn.

It goes without saying that all these people are the worst, and Annahstasia looks amazing. But this is the internet, so we can’t just have nice things.

This is far from the first time Nike has drawn criticism for stepping into a subject that shouldn’t be political in 2019, yet somehow is. One of its recent ads, “Dream Crazier,” called out double standards women in sports faced, and empowered female athletes to shake off the stereotypes and achieve everything they can. And then there’s Nike’s support of Black Lives Matter, and its featuring Colin Kaepernick in a powerful commercial last year. A lot of critics think companies like Nike need to stay out of politics, but when it comes to fighting for equal rights for all people, we’re here for it. Sorry, not sorry.